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of them; and the pillar of the cloud also departed from their face.” 5.11.7 And just as in the previous cases the Lord is introduced speaking to the ancients in the form of a man, so also here through a cloud. For it is said next: “And it came to pass in the morning watch, and the Lord looked upon the camp of the Egyptians in a pillar of cloud,” and throughout the whole desert God speaking to Moses in a pillar through the cloud. 5.11.8 Therefore, precisely when the Word wishes to indicate the nature of an angel, it names him neither God nor Lord but openly an angel, but when it knows the one who appears is Lord and God, it clearly uses these very titles. But that by Lord and God it does not mean the First Cause, the words of the divine Scripture have manifestly shown, by calling the one previously named Lord and God in the case of Jacob, the “angel of God.” 5.11.9 There remains, therefore, some one who is in existence, a God and Lord after the King of all and God of the universe. And this would be the Word of God who is before the ages, who is indeed superior to all angelic nature, but inferior to the First Cause. 5.12.1 From the same. “And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to the place Bethel, and dwell there; and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother. And Jacob said to his house and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods from among you, and be clean, and change your garments; and let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and let us make there an altar to the Lord who heard me in the day of my affliction, who was with me and preserved me in the way which I went.” 5.12.2 Here God himself, the God of the universe, the only unbegotten and highest of all, not having appeared but having spoken invisibly to Jacob and having moved him by an ineffable power, clearly speaks concerning another. For God said to him, “Make an altar to the God who appeared to you.” And who was he who was previously recorded as having appeared to him, we have just presented, having proven him to be the God Word. 5.13.1 From Exodus. “And Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,” “and he came to the mountain of God in Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire of a bush,” and after other things: “And when he saw that he drew near to see, he called him out of the midst of the bush, saying, Moses, Moses, do not come near here; loose the sandal from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground,” and after a little: “and the Lord said to him, I am the One Who Is,” 5.13.2 and again: “The Lord spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, being their God, and I did not reveal my name to them; and I established my covenant with them.” 5.13.3 Just as in the case of the prophets among men, say Isaiah and Jeremiah and the like, a man was what was seen, but God was the one prophesying through the one who appeared as through an instrument, and at one time it was the person of Christ, at another that of the Holy Spirit, at another that of the God over all who spoke through the prophet, so indeed also now to Moses as he is being introduced, the highest God over all proclaims the aforesaid things through the angel who appeared. 5.13.4 The meaning of which might be as follows: To you indeed, O prophet, as one being introduced and grasping nothing more than an angelic vision, for the time being I willed my angel to appear, and I make my name alone manifest to you, teaching that “I am the One Who Is,” and that my name is Lord; but to your fathers I did not only declare this, but I also bestowed something greater than this: for I was seen by them. But who was it who was seen by the fathers? And that it was not the God over all has been previously demonstrated, when we showed that the God and the Lord was called “angel of God.” 5.13.5 How then here does the one who is beyond all things, being himself the only God over all, say that he was seen by the fathers, one might reasonably ask. And the question might be solved, if we were to attend to the precision of the divine Scripture. For when it is said by the Seventy, “and I was seen by Abraham
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αὐτῶν· ἐξῆρεν δὲ καὶ ὁ στῦλος τῆς νεφέλης ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν». 5.11.7 ὥσπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν προτέρων ἐν ἀνθρώπου σχήματι τοῖς παλαιοῖς ὁ κύριος χρηματίζων εἰσῆκται, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα διὰ νεφέλης. λέλεκται γοῦν ἑξῆς· «ἐγενήθη δὲ ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ τῇ ἑωθινῇ καὶ ἐπέβλεψεν κύριος εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης», δι' ὅλης δὲ τῆς ἐρήμου ἐν στύλῳ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης ὁ θεὸς τῷ Μωσεῖ χρηματίζων. 5.11.8 ἀκριβῶς ἄρα ὅτε μὲν ἀγγέλου φύσιν ὁ λόγος δηλοῦν βούλεται, οὐδὲ θεὸν οὐδὲ κύριον ἀλλ' ἀνεπικαλύπτως ἄγγελον ὀνομάζει, ὅτε δὲ κύριον καὶ θεὸν οἶδεν τὸν ἐπιφαινόμενον, ταύταις αὐταῖς σαφῶς κέχρηται ταῖς προσρήσεσιν. κύριον δὲ καὶ θεὸν ὅτι μὴ τὸν αἴτιον δηλοῖ, προφανῶς ἀπέδειξαν τῆς θείας γραφῆς αἱ λέξεις, «ἄγγελον θεοῦ» προσειποῦσαι τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ κύριον καὶ θεὸν προωνομασμένον. 5.11.9 λείπεταί τις ἄρα ὢν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι θεὸς καὶ κύριος μετὰ τὸν παμβασιλέα καὶ θεὸν τῶν ὅλων. εἴη δ' ἂν οὗτος ὁ πρὸ αἰώνων τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, ὁ κρείττων μὲν ἢ πᾶσα ἀγγελικὴ φύσις, μείων δὲ ἢ κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον αἴτιον. 5.12.1 Τῆς αὐτῆς. «Εἶπεν δὲ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακώβ, ἀναστὰς ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν τόπον Βαιθήλ, καὶ οἴκει ἐκεῖ· καὶ ποίησον θυσιαστήριον τῷ θεῷ τῷ ὀφθέντι σοι ἐν τῷ ἀποδιδράσκειν σε ἀπὸ προσώπου Ἡσαῦ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου. εἶπεν δὲ Ἰακὼβ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ, ἄρατε τοὺς θεοὺς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐκ μέσου ὑμῶν, καὶ καθαρίσασθε, καὶ ἀλλάξατε τὰς στολὰς ὑμῶν· καὶ ἀναστάντες ἀναβῶμεν εἰς Βαιθήλ, καὶ ποιήσωμεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ ἐπακούσαντί μου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεως, ὃς ἦν μετ' ἐμοῦ καὶ ἔσωσέν με ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ᾗ ἐπορεύθην.» 5.12.2 Ἐνταῦθα ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων, ὁ μόνος ἀγένητος καὶ ἀνωτάτω πάντων, οὐκ ὀφθεὶς ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀοράτως χρηματίσας τῷ Ἰακὼβ δυνάμει τε ἀρρήτῳ αὐτὸν ἀνακινήσας, περὶ ἑτέρου σαφῶς ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον. εἶπεν γοῦν ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ· «ποίησον θυσιαστήριον τῷ θεῷ τῷ ὀφθέντι σοι». τίς δ' ἦν ὁ προγραφεὶς ὦφθαι αὐτῷ, ἀρτίως παρεστήσαμεν, τὸν θεὸν λόγον εἶναι ἀποδείξαντες. 5.13.1 Ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου. «Καὶ Μωσῆς ἦν ποιμαίνων τὰ πρόβατα Ἰωθὼρ τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτοῦ», «καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὸ ὅρος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν Χωρήβ. ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐν πυρὶ φλογὸς βάτου», καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «ὡς δὲ εἶδεν, ὅτι προσάγει ἰδεῖν, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ βάτου λέγων, Μωυσῆ Μωυσῆ, μὴ ἐγγίσῃς ὧδε· λῦσαι τὸ ὑπόδημα τῶν ποδῶν σου, ὁ γὰρ τόπος ἐν ᾧ σὺ ἕστηκας ἐπ' αὐτῷ γῆ ἁγία ἐστίν», καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· «καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν», 5.13.2 καὶ αὖθις· «ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν, ἐγὼ κύριος ὤφθην πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, θεὸςὢν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἔστησα τὴν διαθήκην μου πρὸς αὐτούς». 5.13.3 Ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις προφητῶν, Ἡσαΐου φέρε εἰπεῖν καὶ Ἱερεμίου καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων, ἄνθρωπος μὲν ἦν τὸ ὁρώμενον, θεὸς δὲ ὁ διὰ τοῦ φαινομένου ὡς ἂν δι' ὀργάνου θεσπίζων, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν Χριστοῦ πρόσωπον, τοτὲ δὲ πνεύματος ἁγίου, τοτὲ δὲ τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ ἦν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου χρηματίζον, οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν εἰσαγομένῳ τῷ Μωσεῖ ὁ ἀνωτάτω καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς διὰ τοῦ φανέντος ἀγγέλου τὰ προκείμενα θεσπίζει. 5.13.4 ὧν γένοιτ' ἂν ὁ νοῦς τοιόσδε· σοὶ μέν, ὦ προφῆτα, ὡς ἂν εἰσαγομένῳ καὶ μηδὲν πλέον ἀγγελικῆς ὀπτασίας χωροῦντι, τέως τὸν ἐμὸν ἄγγελον ἐβουλήθην ὀφθῆναι, ἐμαυτοῦ τε τοὔνομά σοι μόνον ἐμφανὲς καθίστημι, διδάσκων ὅτι «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν», καὶ ὅτι τὸ ὄνομά μού ἐστιν κύριος· τοῖς δὲ σοῖς πατράσιν οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἐδήλωσα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτου μεῖζον ἐδωρησάμην· ὤφθην γὰρ αὐτοῖς. τίς δὲ ἦν ὁ τοῖς πατράσιν ὀφθείς; καὶ ὅτι μὴ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων θεός, προαποδέδεικται, ἡνίκα τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν κύριον· «ἄγγελον θεοῦ» ὠνομάσθαι ἐπεδείκνυμεν. 5.13.5 πῶς οὖν ἐνταῦθα ὁ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὅλων, αὐτὸς ὢν ὁ μόνος ἐπὶ πάντων θεός, ὦφθαί φησιν τοῖς πατράσιν, ζητήσαι ἄν τις εἰκότως. λυθείη δ' ἂν τὸ ζητηθέν, εἰ τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἐπιστήσαιμεν. λεγομένου γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα τοῦ «καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ